Implicature

I. Definition

• The term “Implicature” accounts for what a speaker can imply, suggest or mean, as distinct from what the speaker literally says. (Grice,1975)

• Implicature is one of the ways that one proposition can be conveyed by a speaker uttering or under appropriate.

II. Types of implicature

1. Conversational implicature:

=> derives from the cooperative principle of conversation and a number of maxims expected to be followed by participants in a speech event.

Example:A: Would you prefer coffee or tea?B:I like coffee.

1.1.The cooperative principle

• Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (Yule, 1966)

• In other words, the listener presumes that the speaker is being cooperative and is speaking truthfully, informatively, relevantly, exactly, and appropriately.

1.1.1. The maxims of Quantitya. Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange)b. Do not make your contribution one that is true.

Example:A: are you at the office?B: yes, I am. You will see me at room 12 of Halley building.

1.1.2. The maxims of Quality

a. Do not say what you believe to be false.b. Do not say that for which you lack evidence.

Example:A: Do you think that smoking is good for health?B: No, I think it’s not good for our health.

1.1.3. The maxim of Relation

a. Be relevantexample:

A: why do you learn English?B; Yes, I learn it because of my hobby.

1.1.4. The maxims of manner

a. Avoid obscurity of expression.b. Avoid ambiguity.c. Be briefd. Be orderly

example:A: what do you think about Ha Long Bay?B: I like Ha Long Bay, it has a lot of beautiful caves.

1.2. Generalized implicature

• Definition:

- is a conversational implicature that is inferable without reference to a special context.

( no special knowledge is required to figure out the additional meaning)

=> It means that a generalized conversational implicature is one which does not depend on particular features of the context, but is instead typically associated with the proposition expressed.

Generalized implicatureExample 1:

A: Did you send a message to Tu and Thu?

B: I sent a message to Tu.

Example 2:

The leader asked a staff:- How do you feel about Nam these days?- He usually goes out late at night with someone who has a husband.- That’s so bad ... Do you know who that woman is?- Yes. She is his wife.

1.3. Scalar implicature

• Certain information is always communicated by choosing a word which expressed one value from a scale of value

=> The basic of scalar implicature is that when any form in a scale is asserted, the negative of all forms higher on the scale is implicated

• This is particularly obvious in terms for expressing quantity

Example:•The teacher, all of us have flu, so we are absent from school. Um, actually, some of us has flu, the other takes care of the illness person

•Bill has got some of Chomsky’s papers

=> Bill hasn’t got all of Chomsky’s papers•There will be five of us for dinner tonight•I like Mary. She is intelligent and good-hearted

Scalar implicature

1.4. Particularized implicatures

Definition:

A particularized conversational implicature occurs when a conversation takes place in a very specific context in which locally recognized inferences are assumed.

Particularized implicatures

Example:

- Where is my book?

- Your young sister is drawing something.

=>The action “draw” of young sister would ordinarily not convey anything about her book, so implicature in this case depends on the context as well as the utterance itself.

2.Conventional implicature:

- not based on the cooperative principle or the maxims.

- not have to occur in conversation

- not depend on special contexts for their interpretation.

- associated with specific words and result in additional conveyed meanings when those words are used.

*Some words are expressions for conventional implicature:

-“but”: “A but B” will be based on the relationship between A and B and an implicature of contrast between the information in A and B.

Example: Mary is crying but she is happy.

=>”Mary is crying” is contrast to “she is happy”

-“even”: implicature of contrast of “contrary to expectation”

Example: David even helped the old woman to go home.

=>David is not expected to help the old woman but he did.

-“yet”: the present situation is expected to be different, perhaps the opposite, at a later time.

Example: Mum has not gone home yet.

=>negation of this sentence is “Mum went home”. So “mum went home” is expected to be true later.

III. Generalized vs. particularized implicatures

• A particularized conversational implicature is one which depends on particular features of the context.

• A generalized conversational implicature is one which does not depend on particular features of the context, but is instead typically associated with the proposition expressed.

Some examples

• A: What has happened to my bread?

B: Your cat seems to be happy.

• I’m condemned unfairly like Thi Mau.

• A: Do you invite Minh?

B: Yes, I do.

• He sometime goes to the market with his wife

Conclusion• In two implicatures, the particularized

conversational implicature is used widely, because it can provide with more contents, more aspects of speech than generalized conversational implicature.

• Accidentally or intentionally, the statement can create many implicatures and impacts on many people. At the same time, the troubles in conversation and the cases "one pulls one way, the other pulls the other way” occur.